A variety of paperboard or cardboard sleeve-type liners are commercially available. Paperboard liners are typically cut from long rolls of paperboard into rectangular sections. Each such rectangular section, which is commonly referred to as a "blank," is formed into a four-sided tubular shape for insertion into a slightly larger container to impart vertically oriented structural support to the larger box. The added support provided by the liner allows the boxes to be safely stacked during storage an transit.
The liners are formed from the blanks by folding the rectangular sections along vertical score lines which are scribed between the sections. The two outer rectangular sections are secured to one another using a flap, which extends from one of the two outer rectangular sections and is glued to the other of the two outer rectangular sections.
Once assembled, the liner is ready to be inserted within a slightly larger box. The liner and carton are designed such that there is a snug fit between the liner and the carton. In some applications, glue is applied to the outer surface of the liner and/or the inner surface of the slightly larger carton so that the liner is securely anchored.
Other applications do not use liners. In some powder detergent carton applications, for example, a perforated area is included on one side of the top portion of the carton, such that the user can puncture the perforated area to access the detergent. In other arrangements the carton is provided with tear-back flaps covering the top of the carton.
These arrangements, unfortunately, are inconvenient. The arrangement in which the perforated area is punctured requires a knife or other sharp object to break through to the carton contents. Moreover, in both of the above-discussed arrangements, once access to the carton contents has been provided, preventing spillage is not easily accomplished. The punctured perforated area does not reclose the carton, and the flip-open lid provides an opening where the lid meets the remainder of the carton.
Another known implementation includes a liner-carton assembly having a tear-tape material on the backside, or inside, of the outer carton. Using a tab extending from the carton and by pulling the end of the tab which includes the tear-tape material, a strip of paperboard material parallel to the carton's top surface is removed from the remainder of the carton to provide a flip-open recloseable top. This implementation is manufactured using the Gravure (or equivalent) printing operation, and it involves applying the tear-tape material to the back side of the carton after the printing stations and before die-cutting the individual cartons. Thus, this implementation is feasible for large volumes, because long rolls of cartons can be manufactured with the steps of printing and applying the tear-tape material already completed before the die-cutting process.
Using an offset printing operation rather than the Gravure, however, this liner-carton implementation is not feasible for manufacturing large volumes of cartons. This is because the offset printing operation involves processing rolls of carton paperboard through a sheeter before the printing press stations, and the tear-tape cannot be economically or efficiently adhered to the carton paperboard after the sheeter. Moreover, the tear-tape material cannot be adhered to the back side of the carton paperboard before the printing press stations, because the thickness of the tear-tape material would cause uneven printing on the front side (or outside) of the carton.
Accordingly, there is a need for a paperboard liner arrangement which can be manufactured independent of the type manufacturing equipment and which overcomes the afore-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art.